Achluophobia
by virtualboy2558
Summary: Valentina was always afraid of the dark, even long after her childhood... and then one night comes a thunderstorm that knocks out the power, as well as her feeling of peace. Can a certain wise kindred star spirit help erase the old terror that plagues her heart? Rated T for nudity and mature subject matter. (Old story of mine I realized I never posted here til now. XD)


Achluophobia

By: Virtualboy2558

/

Disclaimer: Super Mario RPG is Copyrights of Nintendo, Square, and Shigeru Miyamoto. I do not own, nor profit, from any or all of the characters mentioned.

/

_Achluophobia:_(_noun)_ - _"The fear of darkness, and anxiety felt when the anticipation of darkness is afoot."_

/

It was really close to night-time when Mario and the team finally found a vacant Inn to stay in. Everyone was so exhausted from sleeping on the hard, grassy earth, it would be a wonderfully tremendous change to not wake up in the morning with bruises all over their backsides and arms. Even Geno was glad they weren't going to have to camp outside tonight.

"Ugh… those blasted termites…," he groaned, checking his wooden body for any sign of the tiny bugs. "Thank goodness you carried some bug spray, Mario."

Mario nodded. He was sure that Gaz wouldn't be happy if Geno gives back his doll and found some gaping holes in his beloved toy.

"I'm just glad we don't have to sleep on our bare bottoms right now!" Bowser growled, rubbing his cheeks from all the stray rocks he sat on from last night's slumber. "If I had to sleep in the wilderness again, I'm almost sure I'll develop some haemorrhoids!"

"Oh, getting haemorrhoids is the last thing you'd worry about, Bowser," Peach chuckled, trying and failing to keep a straight face. Her once flowing, golden hair is now covered in a scattered amount of dirt, with a few twigs sticking out of her locks. She shook her head, and a few dead leaves fell off onto the floor.

The others weren't better off either. There were some smear-marks on Mario's cheeks, and his shirt and overalls was all filthy and wrinkled. Geno was trying to wipe off the grass stains that were all over his torso and shoes. Bowser had some mud caked on his claws, the spikes of his shell and his bracelets. And Valentina, even trying her best to keep herself clean, had stains and sweat marks all over her shirt and blue skirt.

The middle-aged Toad innkeeper at the reception desk was eying the sad-looks of his newest guests, and was trying not to look so disgusted by their current appearance when they walked up to him. The B.O. didn't smell very pleasant at all either.

"Hello… uh… how long do you suppose you'll stay for?" The innkeeper asked, his nose twitching.

"Just for tonight," Geno responded. "Um… How much would that be?"

The innkeeper looked to his papers with a furrow in his brow, typing away on his calculator. After estimating the expenses, he replied, "That'll come up to…," He checked again momentarily. "… a total of 50 coins."

Mario dug into his pocket to pull out his bag of money, and dispensed the exact change to the innkeeper.

"Thank you very much, kind sir," he said, sweeping up the coins in a pile and dumping them into the register. "You'll find your bedroom just upstairs…" He handed a small key to Mario. "…in room 7. Enjoy your stay!" The innkeeper then left in somewhat a hurry to the next room, where some heavy breathing and gagging were heard behind the closed door.

"Well… looks like I need to do some laundry before I turn in, " Geno stated. "Anyone need to wash their clothes too?"

Everyone nodded.

"Okay… so who wants to put their load in first?"

"I need to use the washer first! My shell hasn't been washed in weeks!" grumbled Bowser.

Peach made a face. "Why don't you just stick your WHOLE self in the washer? That'll be an improvement…"

Bowser gave a cold glare to the Princess. "You're one to talk! That _rosy_ skin of yours needs to be polished by a car wax buffer!" His gaze then went to Valentina. "And as for pinkie… well, let's just say that she looks like she crawled out of the sewer…"

Valentina's eye went wide in horror. "I don't look like that!" she yelled, looking ready to burst into tears while her lips trembled. "I…I…I just need to take a bath, that's all!"

"Oh sure… you don't need a bath," Bowser growled with an evil smug grin. "You need to scrub yourself in a vat of liquid soap just to look half-decent again!"

Valentina couldn't take Bowser's cruel words anymore, and started crying. Mario gave Bowser an angry look before going to comforting the poor girl with a gentle hug.

"Guys, guys! We don't need to snap at one another!" shouted Geno, trying to keep the peace. "Look… we'll just put each others dirty clothes together into two loads. One load will be mine and Peach's. And Bowser, Mario and Valentina will then put their load in. Got it?"

Grudgingly, everyone accepted this decision. They didn't came all this way just to get kicked out of the Inn for causing a domestic disturbance.

/

The night grew heavily darker as black clouds began engulf the sky. Rain began to drizzle, before a torrent as chaotic as a group of Fuzzies came pouring down. In the distance, there was faint rumbling within the clouds, followed by sudden forks of powerful lightning streaking the sky. A thunderstorm was on the way.

Everyone in the Inn was sitting in their comfortable spot while they watched the news on TV.

"There is a low pressure system heading west from the Mushroom Kingdom to Seaside Town," a weather Toad spoke, pointing to the map. "There's an expectancy of 30mm of rain tonight, with a low of 67 degrees Fahrenheit. So you better pack something warm underneath that raincoat of yours," he added with a chuckle.

Bowser grumbled at the TV. "What a load of Goomba droppings! All I need to keep myself warm is my cozy shell!"

"But what will you use to keep yourself dry, then?" Valentina asked curiously. She just got out of the shower, and had two towels covering her; one for her large bosom and one to cover her nether regions. Her pink hair was all slick and steamy, looking mercifully clean again.

"Simple! I just terrorize Toad's house and stay inside there until the rain stops!" Bowser said smugly.

"But what if you're nowhere near Toad's house, huh?" snapped Peach, not happy with Bowser at all. She remembered that on more than one occasion, she had to let poor Toad in her castle every rainfall, because she was told that Bowser kicks him out after barging into his humble home uninvited.

Bowser wanted to snap back at the Princess… then pondered at her question. Yeah, how was he going to keep out of the rain without the lousy mushroom's home at a near walking distance? The big Koopa kept thinking about this, while Mario went into the bathroom to "take a leak".

"Be careful in there, Mario! I didn't wipe my feet dry, so the floor is all slippery!" Valentina shouted, while rubbing her chest with the towel to dry herself.

There was no response… but that was because Mario didn't say much.

However, 20 minutes rolled by, and the plumber was still in the bathroom, doing who knows what. By then, Valentina was getting a little worried of her leader. So she lightly tapped on the door to check on Mario.

"Mario? Are you still in there? Ma-ri-ooo…," Valentina whispered through the bathroom door. No answer.

She rapped on the door a little harder… and to her surprise, the door swung opened. Valentina poked her little head inside to look for Mario. And her flawless blue eyes opened wide with shock…

Mario was lying on the floor, belly-side up and knocked totally unconscious. His eyes were closed, his clothes were wet on his back, and a nasty bump was forming on his forehead. At his feet, there was a bar of soap that looked as though someone had slipped on it.

"Oh no! I warned you that the floor was slippery!" squealed Valentina, both hands covering her mouth. "Oh poor Mario… let me help you up!"

She carefully went to the ground, and proceeded to tending Mario to his wound. The towel that held her bosom had fell off without her noticing, and her soft gleaming mammaries were now sticking out proudly. She lifted up Mario by the armpits effortlessly, and pulled him to her chest, giving him a hug.

"Oh.. I'm sorry, Mario… I should have dried my feet before getting out," she cried. She hugged the plumber closer to her warm and curvaceous body. "I hope you could forgive me…"

With a stir, Mario's eyes slowly peeped open. Valentina's sweet, sweet smell from her skin had brought the plumber back to consciousness again. In his perspective, his head felt very comfortable from its current position. It was like he was resting on a fluffy cloud pillow. Mario muttered something in Italian, and that got the bouncing beauty's attention.

"Mario? Are you awake?" Valentina spoke softly. "You took a bad fall here…"

Mario's eyes became alert. Looking up, he saw Valentina's face staring with concern for him. Wait a minute, he thought… if Valentina is here holding him… then that would mean that his head was on…

"WHAAAA!" Mario let out a yell that could have woken up even the heaviest sleeper from their rest. He quickly jumped to his feet, only to slip again on a puddle of water and fall to the floor. His back against a wall, Mario was eying Valentina with shock and embarrassment.

"Mario? What's wrong? Don't worry, it's only me!" she said, as she walked towards him at first. Then she stopped, as she realized that she was standing in front of Mario with her bare chest hanging out. Meekly, she covered her bosom with her arms.

"Ohhh, I'm sorry! I didn't realize… I was just worried about you, Mario! I just wanted to help! You understand, right?"

Mario gave a quick, nervous nod. Averting his sight on her, he then went to get another towel and wrap Valentina's torso in modesty. Valentina tightened the towel so it wouldn't come undone again.

"Thanks, Mario. Hehehe… I guess I managed to embarrass myself this time!" she chuckled. Her busty frame shivered a little. "You won't tell the Princess about this, right? I don't want her even _more_ mad at me than she is now…"

Mario reassured her by holding her shoulders and promising that it'll stay between him and Valentina. Valentina smiled earnestly.

"Thanks again… you're quite a gentleman, Mario. I only hope I can repay you somehow…"

At that last sentence, Mario blushed crimson. He wasn't sure what she meant by that… then decided he didn't want to know. He walked carefully to the bathroom door and left though it. Valentina tagged along after him, but peered through the door to make sure that Peach didn't see her and cause a confrontation.

"What happened in there, Mario?" she heard Geno asked. "You were gone for a long while… and I heard you shout just a moment ago."

While they were distracted, Mario made up a story of him getting frightened by a hairy spider, while Valentina slipped through the doorway and went to the closet unnoticed, so she can get changed.

"A spider? Wow… and I thought you weren't afraid of anything, Mario!" Peach said, a quizzical look on her face. "Or I guess it took you by surprise."

"Let's hope that Bowser doesn't use that against you, though," Geno whispered in Mario's ear.

Bowser, however, didn't hear a word the gang had said. He was still thinking about what Peach said to him earlier.

"If it rains, then I would just… nah… that wouldn't work… hmm… perhaps I could persuade a family of Koopas that I would spare their lives if they let me stay in their home… hmm… I wonder if they'd let me have dinner with them by then?"

/

It was really pouring now. The peak of the storm was ravaging above the tiny Inn with rain, wind and thunder of massive proportions. It was indeed the worst storm seen in over a decade.

But the occupants within the Inn were resting peacefully, undeterred by the weather. There was barely any light inside the room where the team slept. The only form of illumination was a small nightlight where Valentina was resting. Beside her bed, Mario and Peach were sleeping away on the soft floral-patterned sofa. Bowser was on the shaggy rug next to the TV, dreaming of Toad being cooked on a spit-roast, struggling in his ropes and an apple shoved in his mouth.

Geno, again, was up watching the team like he always does. It marvelled him how normal people sleep so much just to be able to get through the day. But it marvelled him more of how Mario can do all the stuff he deals with on a daily basis… and still not end up sleeping until next month. But that was because Geno was never really understood the concept of sleep, being he was only a star spirit. And stars don't sleep… only twinkle and grant wishes.

Just then, a great big flash of light filled the room as a bolt of lightning appeared in the sky for a moment, looking so vividly closer that Geno could have sworn the temperature rose up by a few degrees. And just as quickly, there came a whirring sound, followed by fizzle… and suddenly the nightlight beside Valentina went dark as the power gave out.

A great BOOM followed after that, waking up the bubbly girl from her beauty sleep. Her eyes went wide as she saw that her little light wasn't working at all, and she began to whimper.

"Ohhhh…" she shivered. Valentina's heart began to pound hard and she sprouted goose bumps all over her skin.

Since she was a little girl, Valentina always had a certain fear she had to fight to keep under control. It was a phobia called "Achluophobia", or an irrational fear of the dark. She couldn't stand being in a dark room, and couldn't stand it even more being out on a starless night by herself. The lightning and thunder she could care less about… but it was the darkness of anything that struck terror into her, like Luigi was with ghosts.

Geno heard the girl's cries of fear, and got up from his post to sit next to Valentina to comfort her.

"Hey, hey… what going on?" he whispered. Valentina, jumping a little by Geno's sudden voice, turned to the wooden puppet, her arms grabbing herself as she trembled.

"My… my… my nightlight went out…," she sniffed. Tears were forming in her blue eyes. "I'm… I'm afraid of the dark…"

She sobbed quietly, unable to control herself. She closed her eyes, hoping to make the darkness go away, but it was still the same eerie pitch black.

For as long as he knew her, Geno thought of Valentina to be a cute, flirtatious and very bold woman who takes nearly everything into a positive light. But as he watched her tremble before him, it seems there is no positive light for her to look to. Only gloomy darkness. And now she looks like a frightened child to him.

Geno tried to make Valentina relax. "Shh… there's nothing to be afraid of…"

But Valentina was still scared. "Th-that's what my mom and dad always t-tell me…" She held her hands close to her heart to make it stop hammering so much. "I…I could never sleep in my own bed… I…I… had to sleep with my parents… j-just to get through the night…"

Her whimpering only continued to get worse, and her beautiful face was streaked with tears.

Geno realized that this wasn't going to be easy as he thought. With young children, they always wished to get over their fears. And most of the time, the Star Road did help them recover their courage. But in Valentina's case, it seems that she never wished to be cured of her phobia… because her phobia kept on consuming her. And as she grew older, her fear also grew with her.

So the only thing he could think of was to hold onto Valentina to calm her down. He wrapped his wooden arms around her frame, and pulled her into a hug. Still shivering, Valentina slowly wrapped her own arms around Geno and did the same. She was taking very shallow breaths, and she looked as pale as a pair of white socks. She cuddled Geno softly, clinging onto him for dear life and not wanting to let go.

The pair had been like that for 30 minutes. And Geno realized that Valentina still had a firm hold on him. Her shivering had stopped, and her breathing had slowed down to a normal pace, but she still had fear written all over her eyes. Now he was really worried about her.

"She's still afraid…," he thought with concern. "If I'm ever going to get her to sleep, I need to dig deep at the root of her phobia…"

Geno held onto Valentina for a few more minutes before he whispered something into her ear.

"You know… I was once afraid of something… a long time ago…"

Valentina opened her blue eyes for a moment, loosening her hold, and looked at Geno with piqued curiosity.

"R-really? You… you had a phobia too?" she asked.

Geno nodded truthfully. If the Star Road can't be able to cure her fear, then he was going to help Valentina any way he can.

"It was a few odd thousand years ago… I was very young, and I was at the age where I would be able to grant wishes to the people of the Mushroom Kingdom…"

"Wow…" Valentina gasped, awestruck. "You… You're thousands of years old? I always thought you were the same age as Mario or the others…"

That sparked a chuckle from Geno. "I'm afraid I'm _way_ older than that… But I guess that would be because I'm possessing a life-sized child's toy." He continued with his story…

"As I said, I was very young… back then, I anticipated of help making child's dreams come true. It brought me great joy when I imagined a happy little boy finally getting the dog he always wanted for Christmas, or a small girl hoping her grandfather would come by to visit…" He smiled at the thought.

"But one day… one of my fellow stars, who just got back from granting his first wish, was panicking because he was told he made the wrong wish come true…"

"What happened?" asked Valentina. She was really wanting to know what went wrong.

Geno looked at her, a look of grimace on his face. "It turns out that he granted the wish that made the Koopas declare war and start attacking the Toads… which wasn't supposed to happen…"

"Oh my…" The bubbly girl cringed at the thought.

"I know… it was a fragile time when the Koopas and Toads were about to declare a treaty of peace between the two races… but one Koopa, who always hated the Toads, wished that the treaty was rejected." Geno flashed a look of pity. "My star friend mistaken the wish for a child who wanted the bullies at school to stop picking on him."

"But the wish was undone… right?" Valentina asked with uncertainty.

Geno shook his head. "No… Once a wish has been granted, it can't be undone. And no one bothered to wish for the war to stop… until recently… when Princess Peach came along."

Valentina was now even more surprised. "Really? She actually stopped the war?"

"Hahaha… not like that, I mean," Geno smiled. "It was her wishes for peace to return to the Mushroom Kingdom that helped lessen the aggression of the war between Koopas and Toads. It didn't stop it entirely, because Bowser is living proof of that… but thanks to Peach, and probably others like her, she helped established at least some friendship between the two races."

Valentina ran all that through her pink little head, amazed that all this wishing can perform such power and change to the world. But a question raised its head as she sat contemplating.

"What happened to that little star friend of yours? Was he forgiven for his mistake?" Valentina questioned.

Geno was silent for a very long time, his eyes so sad that he could almost cry, even though he had no tears of his own. "They hadn't decided if they forgave him or not… because… because he killed himself the next day… after making that wish…"

Valentina gasped, her eyes filled with such sorrow. "But why?"

Geno shook his head with grief. "I'm not really sure… he wouldn't talk to anyone, not even me… he never even bothered to show his face again… but what I had guessed at the time was… that he was afraid of what would happen to him after his blunder…"

Geno sighed, feeling older than he ever felt in centuries. "But ever since that day… I became afraid… Afraid of if I too would make a mistake like my friend… and afraid of what would happen if I did."

"So… you had _two_ fears happened to you on the same day?" Valentina whispered.

"Yes… and because of them… I didn't went to recruit myself for wishing duty for the next 500 years…"

"Wow… five-hundred years is a long time to be afraid of something…" spoke Valentina, totally dazed by what Geno told her. Comparing to how long her fear of the dark lasted for almost her whole life… it seemed meaningless now, after hearing somebody being afraid for half a millennium.

"But… but how did you got over your phobia, though?" she said.

Geno though back to that moment, and spoke calmly. "Well… it was an elder star that came to me after I didn't went for recruitment for the 500th time. He asked me why I was the only star on Star Road who was afraid of making wishes instead of being joyful to make them."

Geno sighed again. "So I told him of that day when my friend made his grievous mistake… and he stood there hearing my every word… When I finished, he told me something I never forgot."

"What did he say?" Valentina asked, eager to know.

Geno cleared his throat (even though he never had one) and spoke like a wizened old man. "'Son… you can't let your fears take hold of your whole life. Not everyone is perfect… not even us great star spirits. But if you let yourself be afraid of what you could accomplish… that, my son… that is the biggest mistake you can ever make. But… if you choose to confront your fears, and become the best you can be in life… you'll be able to change the world… for the better.'"

After Geno stopped talking, Valentina became very quiet. She never heard such awe-inspiring words in her life, and was really moved by them. For five minutes, she haven't said a word. But she had enough time to think of what to say.

"I…I understand now…, " she spoke with a little courage. "If I let myself continue to be scared of the dark… I'll never know what I could be able to do if I set my mind to it… So that means…" She paused for a while longer. With each passing moment, her courage began to grow. "The darkness can't hurt me anymore, if I stopped being afraid of it. And if I stop being afraid, I could do anything!"

Valentina began to smile, and filled her lungs with determination as she sudden stood up and looked to the ceiling. "You hear that, darkness? I'm not afraid of you! You can't bring me down anymore!" she yelled with enthusiasm.

Geno cringed, got up to his feet, and covered Valentina's mouth. Valentina next words were muffled before she went quiet again and looked at Geno.

They both watched Mario, Peach and Bowser mumble and turn in their deep sleep. But thankfully, none of them woke up. The wooden doll and bouncing beauty slowly sat back down on the bed.

"Hehe…oops, sorry…," Valentina whispered, blushing with embarrassment. That's twice she made herself look foolish in one day.

"That's okay. I think I pumped too much bravery into your heart," Geno replied with a grin.

"But that's what I should be doing, right?" she said, feeling a little excited. "I have to no longer be afraid of the dark. And no longer sleep with a nightlight. And no longer crawling into someone's bed for comfort."

"Well… yeah," said Geno. "But don't let your courage run too rampant. That's another lesson the elder star told me. It's okay to be afraid, because that's what makes you human… but you have to no longer _be_ afraid eventually."

"Oh… okay," Valentina muttered, finally understanding. She looked at Geno and gave him a happy smile. "I'm glad you made me finally get over my fear, Geno. Thank you so much."

She pulled the puppet towards her sizable chest, and hugged him softly. Geno also smiled.

"Thank the Star Road…," he thought in his mind, before saying out loud, "No problem, Valentina. Happy that I could help."

They both stayed in that position for five more minutes, before Valentina let go of him, feeling all happy. She was back to her old self again… but also at the same time, felt like a new woman. She could now sleep easy tonight… and every night from now on.

She went back into her blankets and fluffed up her pillow, while Geno tucked her in gently. Her face was in pure bliss.

"Goodnight, Geno," she purred.

"Goodnight, Valentina," said the ancient star spirit kindly, while hovering over her. "Pleasant dreams…"

The bubbly girl gave a kiss on Geno's cheek, gave a cute, little yawn, and finally closed her eyes. In no time at all, Valentina was off to dreamland…

Geno smiled and went back to his original post of sitting on his chair. He took a gaze to the window that lead to the outside. A pink hue was starting to peer through the dark black and blue of the night sky. Morning was not too far away.

Geno gave a nod to no one in particular.

Yes, he thought… where there's darkness, there's light…

/

The End


End file.
